As preparations begin for this year’s Great British Beer Festival, we’d like you to help the Northern Ireland Branch promote some of Northern Ireland’s great brewers and beers.

It’s been a few years since beer from Northern Ireland has featured at GBBF, and a reason for this has been a lack of suggestions from ourselves.
We’d love to see Northern Irish Brewers properly represented this year, so we’re asking you to send in your personal recommendations. The window for sending these in closes on 28th February, in less than 1 week.

What GBBF’s beer orderers are looking for from you:

-Give your personal opinions on the beer, they’re not too interested in what prizes it has won or what sells well.

-When describing beers, make life easier for them by letting them know the style and ABV, but don’t forget to include more details and your opinions.

-Don’t just list all the brewers in Northern Ireland, they’re looking for your personal beer recommendations.

-Don’t just list all the beers from a given brewer, they’re looking for which beers you think are the brewer’s best beers.

-The beer should be available for CAMRA to buy in cask in August. This year GBBF will only buy cask beers from UK brewers.

-The festival is unlikely to feature more than one beer from each brewery, but please recommend any you think should be selected, ranked if possible. This will help them ensure a variety of styles.

-If you think there are any beers GBBF shouldn’t order or breweries that should be avoided, tell them, with reasons. All negative comments will be treated as confidential.

You may also recommend great beers from outside Northern Ireland too, if you’d like.

There are now far more breweries in the UK than beers at GBBF, so every recommended beer will not feature. As such, beers and breweries without any recommendations will not feature at GBBF.

The beer orderers are likely to know less about Northern Irish beers and brewers than most other areas of the UK, so the information you provide is particularly important.

National CAMRA’s Members’ Weekend, 2018 AGM and Conference takes place from 20-22 April at the University of Warwick in Coventry.

Hosted by CAMRA’s Coventry branch, the Members’ Weekend will give nearly 1,000 CAMRA members the chance to come together to discuss CAMRA business while meeting up with friends on trips to local pubs and breweries. Conveniently located near the historic towns Coventry, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick, there will be plenty to do in between CAMRA business.

Taking centre stage this year will be the decision on CAMRA’s Revitalisation, following the National Executive’s recommendations for the future purpose and direction of the Campaign. This is one of the most important changes CAMRA has faced in recent years, and as such it is vital that all members’ make their voice heard and cast their vote.

While each and every member will still have the chance to vote on the proposals by proxy if unable to attend the weekend, attendees at Conference will be able to hear the National Executive present the Special Resolutions which, if approved, will change CAMRA’s Articles of Association to enable the organisation to enact the recommendations made. Members in Coventry, who have been unable to attend any of the regional Revitalisation briefings, will be able to ask questions about the detail of the Special Resolutions before casting their vote.

If it’s your first year attending the Members’ Weekend – don’t worry! There will be a presentation at 5pm on Friday 20th April for all new attendees to explain how the weekend will run, covering everything from voting and elections timings to advice on where you can grab a good beer.

Online registration is open now at agm.camra.org.uk where you can find all information including how travel and accommodation and booking onto trips. Please note the closing date for online registration is 3rd April, so ensure you register as soon as possible! If you miss your chance, you can register in person on the day.

Congratulations to The Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast after winning the CAMRA NI Pub of the Year award for 2017. A great turnout from the NI branch saw Michael Cosgrove from The Crown accept the award from our chairman Clive Talbot.

The Campaign for Real Ale has been active in Northern Ireland since 1981 and our local branch of real ale enthusiasts, converts and volunteers continues to grow. Now, with around 400 members, we are continuing to promote and improve the awareness, availability, variety and quality of both real ale and real cider throughout Northern Ireland.

It is something that we in CAMRA NI feel really passionate about, especially in a region where the big multi-national brewers have a stranglehold on what they allow to be sold in our wonderful local pubs.

We hold regular monthly branch meetings plus a wide programme of social and campaigning events throughout the year at which all CAMRA members are welcome to participate. See the calendar for details.

Local members also regularly attend and represent our local branch at the regional SNIB forum meetings (Scotland and Northern Ireland Branches).

Nationally, CAMRA has led the campaign for real ale, real pubs and consumer rights throughout the UK for over 40 years. It is an independent, voluntary organisation with over 185,000 members and has been described as the most successful consumer group in Europe. CAMRA promotes good-quality real ale and pubs, as well as acting as the consumer’s champion in relation to the UK and European beer and drinks industry.

So, if you live in Northern Ireland and are interested in real ale or real cider then why not join CAMRA today?

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Any views expressed on this site are those of individual contributors and local campaigners, and not necessarily those of the Campaign for Real Ale. So don’t stress about it, chill out and have a beer.